A new report from the Institute of Medicine says public health actions are urgently needed to tackle the vast and growing toll of chronic illness on individuals and society.The report’s recommendations focus on optimizing efforts to better understand the burden and needs of people with chronic diseases, improving the dissemination of effective community-based interventions and preventive clinical guidelines, promoting the testing of an aligned health system to help people live well with chronic illness, and promoting the creation and implementation of public health policies in emerging legislation.